


floating with the tide

by clawsnbeak



Series: Pynch Prompt Collection [11]
Category: Raven Cycle - Maggie Stiefvater
Genre: Adam Parrish Loves Ronan Lynch, Boys In Love, Established Relationship, Fluff, M/M, Ronan Lynch Loves Adam Parrish, Summer, Trust me on this one, feels like a languid summer day, post-trk, softest thing you'll ever read, swimming lessons
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-07
Updated: 2020-04-07
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:15:37
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,605
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23532919
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/clawsnbeak/pseuds/clawsnbeak
Summary: “I can’t swim.”A truth.“My parents never taught me.”Another truth.“I don’t care.”A lie.-Adam can't swim and Ronan is there to teach him.
Relationships: Ronan Lynch/Adam Parrish
Series: Pynch Prompt Collection [11]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1417012
Comments: 9
Kudos: 149





	floating with the tide

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this based on a request I have received on Tumblr. This is vaguely related to another fic I wrote which is a lot more angsty. You don't have to read that one before reading this fic but if you would like to see the inspiration behind this, you can check it out here: [Breaking the Surface](https://archiveofourown.org/works/21903874)

“Adam? Can we talk?”

And there it was, the inevitability of what Ronan was going to say next. Adam had prepared himself for this moment, the feeling of it coming having nothing to do with his newfound psychic abilities.

“Sure,” he managed to say, sounding more casual than he thought he would’ve been able to manage. Ronan poked right through the facade however, like he had been able to do for a while now.

He raised a single eyebrow.

Adam’s hands were shaking when he opened the door to the bedroom they slept in together whenever Adam was at the Barns, which was almost every day since they got together only weeks earlier.

Adam sat down on the bed and immediately looked down at his hands. He heard Ronan sigh faintly and felt the bed dip next to him. “Are you gonna tell me what’s wrong?” Ronan asked, playing with his leather wrist bands.

Adam hated the uncertainty in his voice. “Maybe,” he decided on, taking one of Ronan’s hands in his own. 

Ronan huffed, “That's not an answer, Parrish.”

Adam knew what Ronan wanted. 

The truth. 

Something seemingly easy to Ronan. Truths rolled off his tongue, sharp and poisonous, but true nonetheless. Ronan abashedly told you what he thought, even if it ended up breaking you beyond healing.

Adam was a liar.

But he tried not to be, even if it was just to please Ronan. There was a lot he would do nowadays to please Ronan. It scared him a little.

“I can’t swim.”

A truth.

“My parents never taught me.”

Another truth.

“I don’t care.”

A lie.

Blue had begged him to go swimming with them the last time they went to the beach and Adam had refused, even when Ronan had looked at him with disappointment in his eyes, not exactly at Adam but more at his refusal to spend those precious hours they had with him. 

Adam had shrugged at him and averted his eyes, desperate to hide the disappointment mirrored in his own eyes. He had watched his friends go and he was left behind, once again hindered by his inability to do something, to have something they did have. The ability to swim in this case.

He could feel Ronan look at him but he didn’t dare to look back. He didn’t know what Ronan was going to find in his eyes but he knew it wasn’t going to be pretty. 

Ronan stood from the bed when Adam continued his unbreakable silence. Adam had the urge to grab Ronan’s wrist and hold onto it, to prevent him from leaving because Adam fucked up once again. He heard the door slam between them when he didn’t which wasn’t unusual for Ronan. Everything Ronan came across had dealt with the underlying anger that was constantly burning in one way or another even when there was nothing that had sparked that anger. This time Adam feared it had been him that dropped the flame. 

He was about ready to leave The Barns and make a break for it, running back to St. Agnes like the coward he was but then he was hit in the face with a piece of fabric. 

“They’re Matthew’s,” was the only explanation Ronan gave. “They should fit you.”

Adam’s hand clenched around the swimming trunks and nearly threw it back in Ronan’s face. “This is not funny, Lynch,” he said through gritted teeth.

“I’m not kidding, Adam,” Ronan said. 

Adam believed him.

“Then what-“

“I’m going to teach you how to swim,” Ronan said with a shrug, moving around Adam to get into his own pair. 

Normally when Ronan undressed, Adam stared at him because it was Ronan undressing. Now, he just gawked at him dumbly. “You’re going to do what now?”

Adam could feel Ronan’s eyes rolling, even with his back turned to him. 

“For fuck’s sake, Adam,” Ronan said not unkindly. “I’m going to teach you how to swim so you can join us next time.”

Adam bit his lip, preventing him from spilling out the familiar words. _I’m not a charity case and I won’t be treated as such. I don’t need your help, I am my own independent person and I can do it myself._

Instead, he quickly exchanged his jeans for the swimming trunks before he could change his mind. Ronan nodded at him approvingly and shot him a sharp grin. “Need some of Matthew’s floaties too?”

“Prick,” Adam said but smiled nonetheless. 

Adam wasn’t smiling now with the cold water hitting his ankles and Ronan pulling on his arm to drag him in further. His nervousness didn’t stem from distrust, he knew Ronan wouldn’t just let him drown but more so from the fear of not being able to do it, even though, in the back of his mind, he knew almost everybody should be able to.

But his relationship with Ronan was new, even if it felt like it wasn’t. There was familiarity in Ronan’s touches already, in the way his fingers wrapped around his wrist, always pulling him along into reckless activities Adam never ended up regretting.

Adam wasn’t going to regret this one either.

He let himself be led further into the sea, now waist-deep in the cold water. Ronan was surprisingly patient now, watching Adam carefully for even the slightest grimace or twitch of his eye.

“Do you know how to float?” Ronan asked, his voice not unkind. Adam shook his head sadly, another sign of defeat splayed out in the open.

Ronan nodded and urged Adam to wade in further until the water was hitting his chest. Ronan let go of his wrists and wove his arms around Adam’s waist, the heat of his skin a stark contrast against the ice-cold of the sea he was still getting used to. 

When Ronan reached down to hold Adam’s legs too, carrying him in a bridal style position, he didn’t ask if Adam trusted him, if he was allowed to do this. He already knew the answer. 

He lifted Adam slightly and Adam let his head fall back, flinching at the cold water seeping into his ears. Ronan laughed softly and continued to hold him as Adam got used to the water surrounding him, feeling how it held him up alongside Ronan. 

“You can let go,” Adam said softly, not wanting to break the peacefulness of the moment. Ronan let go of him slowly, giving him every chance to ask for the safety of his arms again. But Adam wasn’t one to back out, he gave himself over to the unpredictability of the sea.

He felt himself drift off but he knew Ronan was still close by. He let himself gaze up to the blue sky, try to see shapes in the clouds that passed him by until Ronan touched him softly, asking if he was ready for another lesson. 

Adam nodded but didn’t move either. He heard Ronan laughed faintly, the sound distorted underwater. Two hands gripped his shoulders and dragged him further into the sea. 

The bottom had fallen away when Adam tried to stand again. He would’ve sunk if it wasn’t for Ronan’s quick arms wrapping around him. “Looks like it’s water-treading next.”

“When are you going to teach me how to actually swim?” Adam asked impatiently after following Rowan’s instruction to kick the water as hard as he could. 

“When you’re not two seconds away from drowning,” Ronan said with a roll of his eyes. He let Adam’s waist go slowly, nodding approvingly when he kept his head above water.

Ronan deemed him ready after a few minutes of this. Adam’s legs were already burning but he wasn’t one to admit defeat. He kept going, no matter the costs.

He moved his arms and legs as Ronan instructed and laughed freely when he moved forward. Adam lost his concentration for a second and went under but Ronan had him lifted against his chest in a heartbeat. 

Adam was still laughing. 

“I thought you were going to die,” Ronan said, his voice jokingly patronising but Adam recognised the real concern lying just beneath the surface.

“I was under for one second,” Adam responded with a roll of his eyes, his tone amusing enough to make the situation more serious than it was. Still, the words held a quiet ‘I’m okay’ within them which made the frown finally disappear off of Ronan’s face.

They spend the entire afternoon like this, slowly swimming, Adam’s movements more confident and sure, Ronan’s cheering and laughter louder as the day passed them by. 

They exchanged lazy kisses too, the weightlessness of the water a perfect reenactment of what they already felt when they kissed each other. It was freeing and peaceful, fluid in its familiarity.

They stayed until it became too dark to see each other, hands clasped together as they walked back to Ronan’s car that would take them back home to the Barns. Every second they could touch each other, they did, savouring the feeling of each other’s skin on their own before it was too late. It was Adam’s fingers trailing over Ronan’s bare arm as he drove them back, Ronan’s arms wrapped around his waist as they showered together, just keeping each other close, nothing more. It was them curled up in front of the TV after, too wrapped in each other to pay attention to the screen.

The next time the group went swimming, Adam joined to everybody’s glee and if he spent most of his time with Ronan, enjoying the little time before he left together, then that was nobody’s business but theirs.

**Author's Note:**

> You can follow me on [Tumblr](clawsnbeak.tumblr.com) too!


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